anorak

by Carmela Cohen
conjunction
Honorable Mention, June 2010
Judged by Fiona Sampson


for Mister Prime Minister and Eternal Love


                                                      wide awake word
 


                     wedded
                         to





the bed headed            world. talks to
the butterflies to. the flight of polished



off stairs. to the left, beware. to the right yes take care. so
scared so dared tracking dust’s railroad rust over bamboo
bottled flutes. so snared
sacking loco e motion’s



gut of self consciousness. cobra,
the great hypnotic work: devotion.         wide



                         awake
                         word



                         smack



of something other than troubled gum                   wind startled stunts.
say something like chunt not cholent                  shunt



not shan’t. nest test       rest redolent
not frozen             noses.                    a dozen
                                                         eskimo



                                                            roses.



                                                                          why lie


awake, word, hording boardwalks and bean stalks. what have you heard?



                                                                           the scarecrow’d snowflake



                                                         the skein

of transfixed tambourines?
blue spotted moon belt of

                                                          falling







                                                        falling
                                                         for love?  inadequate terms for remorse for


                        buried alive. wide a                wake word.





                                                      weeded
                                                                       out from the avalanche birds. shall
                                                          coat
                                                                       your tongue with my lips. this once.

This is rhythmic, poised and frankly beautiful. They only reason I didn’t place it (higher) is that I’m not completely convinced it gathers to a completed meaning. Which is kind of the point, but it’s still important to make the poem convincing – even through cheating with palimpsest/frames etc. --Fiona Sampson